Twenty-eight posts have been axed at the largest private motoring organisation in Britain.

The Brighton headquarters of the Civil Service Motoring Association (CSMA) at Britannia House, Station Street, has borne the brunt with the loss of 17 posts.

Six of the 120 staff have been redeployed, two have taken early retirement and nine have been made redundant.

It follows a bad 2001 for the association which, for the first time in recent history, made loss.

The foot-and-mouth outbreak, September 11 and the failure of a building firm and an insurance company with which it had links were blamed for the job cuts.

Steve Kenward, chief executive of the association which has 360,000 members, said the losses were regrettable.

The CSMA is a mutual organisation for Civil Service employees and their families. Employees of other Government-linked services can also join. It has had its administrative headquarters in Brighton since 1979.

It provides a series of benefits for members, including breakdown via Britannia Rescue, cheap holidays, insurance and a range of financial benefits, such as competitive loans.

Mr Kenward said: "We have had a bit of bad luck and we are having to make these changes so we can remain competitive and continue to provide value for money to our members.

"But this is the end of the redundancies and loss of posts at Brighton. We have gone through a full consultation process.

"Membership is not a problem. Numbers are, in fact, increasing as many of the companies, such as British Telecom, which were once part of the Civil Service, are now with us.

"The number of civil servants may be decreasing but those who qualify for membership of the CSMA is not."